Governors | Stottesdon CofE Primary School

The Local Academy Board

Stottesdon CofE Primary School is part of Four Stones Gateway Trust. The Trust Board is legally responsible for the school and sets the overall strategic direction, governance framework and accountability arrangements for all schools within the Trust.

Stottesdon Cof E has a Local Academy Board (LAB). The LAB is the local tier of governance within the Trust and acts as a committee of the Trust Board. Its purpose is to provide local assurance, support and challenge, helping Trustees understand how effectively the school is serving its students and wider community.

Local Governors do not manage the day-to-day operation of the school. Instead, they work alongside school leaders and the Trust to provide oversight, visit the school to gain first-hand insight, listen to the views of all stakeholders, ask constructive questions, and ensure that key priorities are being delivered effectively.

What Local Governors focus on

The Local Academy Board provides assurance to Trustees through four key areas:

Safeguarding: ensuring that students are safe, supported and protected and that safeguarding arrangements meet statutory and Trust expectations.
SEND and Inclusion: understanding how the school supports students with special additional needs and disabilities, promotes inclusion and meets the needs of vulnerable learners.
Spirituality: ensuring the Christian distinctiveness of the school is embraced and embedded
Standards: reviewing information about educational outcomes, student progress and the quality of education to help ensure all students achieve their potential.
Stakeholder voice: listening to and understanding the views of students, staff, parents, carers and the wider community, ensuring these perspectives contribute to school improvement and the Trust decision making.

Local Academy Board Membership

The Local Academy Board of Stottesdon CofE Primary currently comprises:

Foundation Governors

Sarah Home
Sally Wallace-Jones (Ex-Officio)

Trustees’ Appointed Local Governors

Robert Kennett (Chair)
Julia Evans

Parent Local Governors

Lauren Walker
VACANCY

Further Information

The Trust’s formal governance arrangements, including the Scheme of Delegation, Terms of Reference, Articles of Association and Trustee information are available on the Four Stones Gateway Trust governance pages. These documents set out the responsibilities, authority and accountability arrangements that underpin governance across the Trust.

For all correspondence relating to the Local Academy Board please contact: governance@fourstonesgateway.org.uk

The current Governing body is represented by parents, staff and other members of the community. Our role is to be critical friends of the school, help to provide the best possible education for your children and to enable them to reach the highest standards of achievement.

We are expected to contribute to the development of the school, having a good working knowledge of the School Development Plan and of its policies and procedures.

More recently we have been involved in the following:

Expanding accommodation
Implementing and setting the school budget
Looking at the progress and attainment of pupils throughout the school
Training opportunities including Safeguarding Children, Ofsted inspections and understanding Analysing School Performance (ASP).
Link visits regarding Safeguarding, Pupil Premium, and Early Years and nursery/wraparound.

To see a full list of governors, their roles and a register of business interests then please see the following:

Stottesdon School Governors

Name	Type of Governor	Term of office start date	Term of office end date	Declarations of Interest	An introduction
Dr Robert Kennett MBE - chair	Community	25.10.23	24.10.27	Director of Prometheus Communications Ltd and Dudlick Ltd.	Rob holds the degree of Master of Education (Training and Evaluation) and a Doctorate in Education (Global Educational Policy) from the University of Hull. He is the founder and Director of a Training Company that delivers programmes both nationally and internationally. He was awarded a MBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List 2009. He is married and he is passionate about history and gardening.
Sarah Home - vice-chair	Foundation	12.07.24	23.09.29	None	Sarah is a director of Willowdene Rehabilitation, a local rehabilitation service providing specialist interventions across the criminal justice and health sectors. She previously worked as a secondary science teacher before taking a role developing training opportunities at Willowdene. Sarah is passionate about the value of education and lifelong learning. Sarah has a background in medical research and trained as a secondary science teacher. She joined Willowdene in 2005, providing numeracy and literacy training to adults at risk. Sarah is responsible for managing 40 members of staff and working with a number of agencies to achieve the best outcomes for the most at risk in our society. Safeguarding children and adults is a priority within her work whilst promoting physical, mental and emotional wellbeing. Sarah has four children and has enjoyed seeing three of children flourish during their time at Stottesdon
Lauren Walker	Parent	26.11.24	25.11.28	Sister-in-law to Tracey Wood (TA)	Lauren is a senior leader at a Pupil Referral Unit in Worcester with lead responsibility for teaching and learning, curriculum, interventions and English. With over 20 years experience in SEMH and SEND teaching, she has knowledge of the curriculum and the education sector. Lauren is passionate to support every child's needs throughout their learning journey and has a strong ethos that places the child as the central focus. All children deserve the best possible outcomes and schools are best placed to help them reach these.